Changes
by ladyyoko86
Summary: Botan and Kurama meet for the first time, their first encounter is not what you would think.


Changes

Botan was exhausted and very annoyed, her boss had once gain asked her out on a date and she once again turned him down. She couldn't help but think that maybe she should find another job, it seems she couldn't go a week without her boss hitting on her and each time she turned him down she magically ended up having to stay late to finish a project. She decided to ask Keiko in the morning for some advice.

She thought more as she walked home and sighed in relief as her apartment building came into view. She pushed open the lobby doors and headed straight for the elevator, normally she would have taken the stairs but she was too tired. She pressed the button and the doors opened immediately and she stepped on. On the ride up to her apartment she dug around in her purse for her keys. The ride was short and soon she was standing in front of her door. She opened the door and was greeted by darkness before she turned on the lights and threw her purse on the couch, she heard a thunk and a voice say "ouch." Botan screamed and soon the lights flickered on and she saw Keiko standing in the hallway with a bat in hand.

"What is going on?" Keiko asked.

"You tell me" Botan replied. Keiko chuckled and Botan shot her a dirty look and Keiko immediately stopped laughing and said "Botan I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that we will be having a guest, this is Kurama he's in town for the wedding and will be staying with us."

"Why?" asked Botan.

"Well because there was no room at Yusuke's apartment for him to stay so I offered him our couch" Keiko replied.

"Oh" Botan said as she looked at the man she had thrown her purse on.

Keiko yawned and said "Well I'm going back to bed" and with that she left the room.

Once Keiko had shut her door, the man said "Do you always throw things on your guests?" with a laugh.

She glared at him and stuck her tongue out, and stalked to her room. She heard him say "goodnight" but decided not to acknowledge him. She entered her room and shut the door, she flopped on her bed and within minutes she was asleep.

She awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee and couldn't help but salivate. She dressed hurriedly and put her hair in a quick ponytail and made her way to the kitchen. She said "good morning" as she entered the kitchen and went to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee. She turned to sit at the table and her face fell instead of Keiko she saw Kurama. He bid her good morning but she ignored him and reached for the paper. He quickly grabbed it and placed it out of her reach. She glared at him and asked "Are you always this rude?"

He replied "Are you always this unwelcoming to your guests?"

She huffed out a breath and whispered "Sorry."

He acknowledged her apology and they sat in silence for a few minutes until Keiko entered the room. Once greetings were exchanged she sat down and started chatting with Kurama. Botan was about to butt into the conversation when the phone rang. She got up to answer it and soon held the phone out to her roommate and said "Keiko, it's for you."

Keiko got up and grabbed the phone, her face immediately fell and she quickly hung up. Botan had sat down when Keiko took the phone from her looked at her roommate and asked "Keiko, is everything alright?"

Keiko replied "No, not really, just some wedding stuff I have to go deal with" and before Botan or Kurama could say another word Keiko was grabbing her purse and heading out the door. Once Keiko left Kurama and Botan looked at one another, neither said a word and after a few minutes of silence Botan said "Well, I'm going to take a shower" and without waiting for a reply she headed towards the bathroom.

She walked to the bathroom and quickly shut the door, she turned on the shower and while the water was heating up she brushed her teeth. When she was done she stripped and stepped into the shower. As she washed her hair she thought about work, she decided she should wait until after the wedding to talk to Keiko about what she should do. She continued to think about the wedding, she was happy for Keiko, getting married was a big deal, but she was sad that she would be losing her roommate. She finished up and stepped out of the shower. While she was drying off she heard a knock on the door and Kurama's voice say "Are you going to be in there all day, I have someplace I need to be."

She wrapped a towel around herself and flung open the door and scowled at the man standing in front of her. Kurama looked her up and down and said "Well, well don't you look wonderful."

Botan's face turned red and she quickly ran past him to her room. She closed the door and got dressed, when she was done she peeked her head out to see if he was anywhere around and when she saw no sign of him she exited her room and headed back to the kitchen. She started to fix herself some breakfast, when she was done she sat down and before she could take a bite Kurama reentered the kitchen. She looked at him and thought 'My, my he looks yummy' his hair was wet and he smelled delicious. She erased the thoughts from her head and scowled at him once more; he smiled back at her in return and sat down.

"I thought you had someplace you needed to be?" she asked.

"I do, but I think I have a little time, I'm supposed to be meeting Yusuke and he's never on time." He replied with a chuckle. She laughed and relaxed a little. She looked at him and asked "Would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks" he replied with a smile. She decided to try and be nice and smiled back at him.

They sat in silence again until she asked "So how do you know Yusuke?"

"We met in high school" he said. "Oh" she replied as she finished her breakfast.

"How do you know Keiko?" he asked.

"Well that's a funny story" she said and began to tell him about how she and Keiko became friends and after a few minutes they were both laughing. Once their laughter died down Kurama looked at his watch and said "Wow, I should get going or else Yusuke will beat me to the café."

"Knowing Yusuke I think you still have a chance to make it on time" she said. He chuckled and headed towards the door, he looked back at her and said with a wink "see you later."

Botan blushed at his attention. She thought 'Maybe he's not that bad' she thought. She decided that since it was her day off and she had the house to herself that she would do absolutely nothing. She got up from the table and placed her plate in the sink and made her way to the couch. She reached for the remote and turned on the TV and put her feet up. After about 10 minutes of flipping channels she decided she was completely bored.

She decided to she should get up and clean the apartment, but when she looked around she saw that Keiko had cleaned yesterday so there wasn't much for her to do. She thought about what she should do next and d decided to try and finish a book she had started the week prior. She went to her room to grab the book and returned to the couch, she made herself comfortable and started reading. After a few minutes of looking at the same page she set the book down and blew her bangs out of her face. She looked around for something to do and that's when she spotted Kurama's bag sitting in the corner. She eyed it curiously and thought about what she might find if she went through it. 'Maybe I can learn more about him' she thought.

She made her way over to where his bag sat and slowly unzipped it halfway. She peeked in but couldn't see a thing so she unzipped the bag all the way, but she still couldn't see anything. She was just about to reach her hand into the bag when she heard someone clear their throat. 'Please be Keiko' she thought but when she turned around she saw Kurama standing there looking at her curiously. He grinned and said "Looking for something?"

"What are you doing back so early?" she asked.

"Yusuke called and said he had to go help Keiko, so we rescheduled" he replied.

Botan blushed; she couldn't believe she had been caught red handed. Kurama stared at her and said "A little nosey aren't we?' Botan sent him a dirty look and stalked past him to her room. She slammed the door and let out a frustrated cry. 'He's so smug' she thought 'although he did catch me going through his things' she began to chew her fingernails and try to think of how she was going to explain what she had been doing to Kurama. She paced back and forth until a knock sounded on her door.

She walked over and opened it; she was surprised to see Kurama standing there. She was about to ask him what he wanted when all of a sudden he snaked a hand out and placed it behind her neck and pulled her face close to his and said "Botan, if you wanted to know about me all you had to do was ask" and before she knew it he was pressing his lips against hers. When he pulled away he saw Botan's cheeks tinged with pink, when Botan recovered from the shock of the kiss she sneered at him and slammed the door in his face.

She leaned against the door and thought 'I can't believe he kissed me!' she was surprised by his actions and was even more surprised that she actually enjoyed the feeling of his lips against hers. She sat on her bed and continued to think about Kurama, she stayed in her room thinking until she heard Keiko's voice. She decided it was safe to come out and left her room to go find her roommate, she found her sitting in the living room chatting with Kurama. Botan sat down and joined the conversation, she tried very hard not to stare at him but it was becoming really hard. He would glance at her every few seconds and her heart would beat faster.

Keiko noticed their interaction but said nothing, she decided to try and help them out a little and excused herself to go and call her fiancé and tell him about her idea. She reentered the room a few minutes later and saw that they were both ignoring each other. She laughed inwardly and then said "Well guys we should get going soon."

Botan looked at Keiko curiously and said "Why?"

"The rehearsal dinner of course" she replied, Botan jumped up from where she was sitting and smacked her forehead and said "Oh, I forgot, let me go change" and with that she ran to her room to change clothes. Botan rummaged through her closet and quickly found something that would work for dinner. She dressed rapidly and pulled her hair into a bun; she went back to her closet and began searching for some shoes to wear. When she found some she ran out of her room and said "Ready!"

Keiko smiled at her and said "Alright, then let's go." She picked up her car keys from the table and led the way out of the apartment. They walked to the elevator and pressed the button, the elevator didn't take long to reach them and soon they were boarding. On the ride down Botan slid a sideways glance at Kurama and found him staring at her. He looked away when he realized she was looking at him. The ride didn't take long and soon the three were in the car making their way to the rehearsal dinner.

They chatted a little about the wedding and before they knew it they had arrived. They exited the vehicle and heard a voice shout "Hey Kurama!" they turned to see Yusuke standing outside next to Kuwabara. They walked over and greetings were exchanged and Yusuke pulled Keiko close and kissed her. She smiled at him in response and they all entered the hall.

The rehearsal started out fine but after about an hour everyone was starting to get restless, it seems the groom was bored and so Keiko decided they had practiced enough and gathered everyone together and told them it was time to head to the restaurant for dinner. She went over to Yusuke and whispered something in his ear, he nodded and she walked back over to Botan and said "Botan, will you please take my car to the restaurant I need to talk to the groom about some last minute details?"

Botan nodded and walked to Keiko's car, she got in and started it up and was about to pull away when they passenger door opened and Kurama stuck her head in and said "Going somewhere without me?" and before she could reply he got in and buckled up. She stared at him for a second but then backed the car up and headed towards their destination. She slid a glance his way and saw he was once again looking at her; she glanced at him and said "Kurama, why are you staring at me?"

"No reason" he replied with a smirk. She didn't reply, instead she began to think about the kiss they had shared earlier, she decided to ask him about it. She pulled into the restaurant parking lot and shut off the car but made no move to exit the vehicle. Kurama noticed and asked "Is there something wrong?"

She shook her head and said "I've been wondering something."

"What's that" he replied.

"Well I was wondering why you kissed me earlier?" she asked.

Kurama laughed and replied 'Oh that, well I was just joking around." Botan huffed out a breath angrily and got out of the car, slamming the door in disgust and stalked to the restaurant. Kurama got out of the car and followed her. He caught up to her rather quickly and reached for her hand but she pulled away from him. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could utter a word the rest of the group walked in.

The lot of them entered and was seated quickly, Kurama ended up sitting across from Botan, and she sneered at him all through dinner. She tried to enjoy herself but she just couldn't, not with him staring at her the whole time she was eating. Keiko saw the two of them acting weird and decided it was time to head home, she signaled to her fiancé that it was time to go and soon everyone was leaving. She took Botan aside and said she was going to stay the night at Yusuke's and asked if Botan would mind taking her car home.

Botan agreed and made her way to the car quickly, she was trying to avoid Kurama, which she did successfully. She sighed all the way home. She made her way inside the building and when she was inside her apartment she immediately took off her shoes and settled on the couch. She heard the door open and saw Kurama enter. She got up and stalked to her bedroom without a word. She slammed her door and undressed and climbed into bed.

Kurama winced as he heard her door slam. 'I guess I deserved that' he thought. He lay awake on the couch thinking about what he had said to her earlier. 'Maybe I should have told her the truth instead of telling her I was joking around when I kissed her. He continued to think about her and how attractive he thought she was, from the first moment he saw her he knew he wanted her. He continued to think about her until he fell asleep.

The next morning Botan woke up in a really bad mood. She stalked to the bathroom and started getting ready for the day. Once she was showered and dressed she made her way to the kitchen to start breakfast. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Kurama in the kitchen cooking. His back was to her so she studied him thoughtfully. 'He is kinda cute' she thought. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought and he turned around to see her standing there looking at him.

He was surprised to see her up so early, but greeted her nonetheless. She snapped out a good morning and sat down at the table, soon after she had sat down a plate was being slid in front of her. She looked at him quizzically and said "You made me breakfast?"

He smiled and replied "yes, it's my way of apologizing."

'Maybe I should give him a second chance' she thought. She stared at him and finally said "Oh, well thanks."

He sat down in front of her and they both began eating, they ate in silence until the phone rang. Botan got up to answer it, as soon as she said hello Keiko's voice filled her ear saying "Today's the day!" Botan held the phone away from her ear until her friend stopped screaming. Keiko began spouting off a list of things she wanted Botan to do before the ceremony started. Botan could barely get a word in edgewise, finally she interrupted Keiko and said "Keiko, don't worry everything is under control." Keiko let out a breath and said "Alright, I'll see you at the church at three o'clock" and with that she hung up.

"Well Keiko sure is excited" Kurama said after Botan had placed the phone back on the hook.

"Well it is her wedding day" Botan replied "what woman wouldn't be excited?"

"True" he said "Maybe I should be getting ready" and with that he got up and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. While he was getting ready Botan started cleaning up the dishes. She was drying the last dish when Kurama reentered the room. She ogled him for a moment and then asked "Do you want to help me run some errands?"

"Sure" he replied. Botan grabbed Keiko's keys off the counter and they left. When they reached the car Kurama opened her door for her and she smiled in response. On the way to their first stop Botan asked him more about where he grew up and what he did for work. "Well I grew up here in Tokyo, but I moved away a year ago for a job. I still have family here though" he told her.

They started sharing more and more about each other and soon they were laughing like old friends, and before they knew it they were almost done with their errands. Their last stop was to pick up the tuxes before heading to the church. Once they had been picked u they headed to the church and as soon as they arrived Keiko dragged Botan away. She smiled at Kurama as Keiko pulled her towards the bridal suite.

Kurama stared at her until she was out of sight when a voice behind him said "So Kurama, what's going on between you and Botan?" Kurama turned to see Yusuke standing there with a wicked grin on his face. Kurama looked at his friend and said "Shouldn't we be getting ready?" and with that the two of them headed to where the rest of the groomsmen were hanging out until the ceremony started.

While the men were joking around, the women were busy helping Keiko get ready, Shizuru was helping with Keiko's hair and Yukina was busy with her makeup. Botan was standing off to the side daydreaming. She snapped out of it when Keiko said teasingly "Botan are you thinking about anyone in particular?"

Botan looked at her friends and said "What?"

The girls laughed at their friend's response to Keiko's question. Shizuru piped up and said "I know who it is and who could blame her, he is rather attractive." Yukina nodded her head in agreement. Botan just stood there with her mouth hanging open and a confused look on her face. "I don't know what you three are talking about. I was thinking about um…." she trailed off without finishing her sentence.

Keiko stood up and walked over to her friend and put her hands on her shoulders and said "Botan I know him and he is a very wonderful man, maybe you should give him a chance."

Botan smiled and nodded. Keiko gathered Botan in a hug and soon Shizuru and Yukina were joining in. they stayed like that until Keiko's mother stuck her head in the door and said "It's almost time."

The girls began to race around the room trying to hurry up and get Keiko ready so they could finish getting ready themselves. They finally finished helping Keiko with her hair and makeup and soon were helping her put on her gown. They stood back and stared at Keiko with tears in their eyes. She looked beautiful. The girls wiped their eyes and hurriedly put on their gowns. They left the room soon after so Keiko could spend some time with her parents before the ceremony.

The bridesmaids stood in the hallway and were soon joined by the groomsmen and Yusuke; everyone hugged him and congratulated him before he made his way to the altar. The others began to line up, Shizuru took her place beside her brother, Yukina stood beside Hiei and that left Kurama with Botan. Kurama was about to tell Botan how beautiful she looked when the music began to play. She looked at him and nodded and the two made their way down the aisle. Once they were at the altar they separated and stood at the bride and grooms sides respectively. During the ceremony the two of them couldn't keep their eyes off each other. They stared at each other so much that Keiko had to clear her throat to signal Botan that she needed the ring.

Finally the ceremony was over and everyone was heading towards the back of the church, towards the reception hall. Once they entered the hall they were seated and soon the bride and groom were making their grand entrance. Botan greeted the couple and helped them get settled, once that was done she looked around for Kurama but he was nowhere to be found. She slumped her shoulders and sat down and started to eat. It wasn't soon before long that music started and the newlyweds stood and made their way to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife.

Botan watched the two love birds with a far off look in her eyes. Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder; she turned around to see Kurama standing there. Her face brightened and she smiled at him. He sat down next to her and took her hand in his. He leaned forward and kissed her fingers and then whispered "Would you care to dance?"

She blushed and nodded yes. He stood up and offered her his hand and led her to the dance floor. He wrapped his arms around her waist and they began to move to the music. They stared into each other's eyes, neither wanting to look away. He was about to lean forward to kiss her when they were interrupted by the dj saying it was time for the bride and groom to cut the cake. Everyone made their way over to watch them and as they cut the cake the guests whispered how so in love they looked.

Soon after it was time for Keiko to throw the bouquet, after it had been thrown and caught the newlyweds made their way outside to the limo that was waiting to take them to their honeymoon. Everyone waived as the car drove away. Once the car was out of sight Botan made her way back inside to gather her things and change clothes. She was planning on coming back the next day to clean up. She blew her bangs out of her face and headed towards Keiko's car. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more that to sleep, she arrived at home rather quickly and when she had finally entered her apartment she curled up on the couch and promptly fell asleep.

It wasn't long after that she felt herself being lifted and carried somewhere. She opened one eye sleepily and saw red hair. She snapped both eyes open and saw that Kurama was carrying her. He looked down at her and smiled and said "Hey sleepy head" she mumbled a response as he laid her down on her bed. He was about to leave when she placed a hand on his arm and said "stay.'

He nodded and lay down beside her and gathered her close. He brushed her hair away from her face and said "Botan, can I tell you something?"

She lifted her head so she could look at him and whispered "yes."

He placed a hand under her chin and lifted her face so he could look into her eyes and stammered "I…I" he was not able to finish his sentence, he was incredibly flustered. She giggled and placed a finger on his lips and said "I like you too Kurama." He smiled and lowered his lips to hers in a searing kiss.

Once they broke apart Botan said "Kurama you live so far away, how will this work?"

"Don't worry too much darling, I think we will work out just fine considering I'll be moving in here with you tomorrow." He replied. Botan raised her eyebrows in surprise and he laughed. Once he stopped laughing he explained what he had meant "You see I wasn't just in town for the wedding I was here for a job interview, and as luck would have it I was offered the job and accepted. So you see I'll be moving back here to Tokyo."

"That's wonderful!" she cried.

"I'm glad you think so because it was Keiko's idea for me to move in, it seems she was trying to set us up all along" he continued.

She laughed and said "Yeah, that sounds like Keiko" he began to laugh and she joined in. Once their laughter died down he leaned down and kissed her again. The two of them stayed up all night talking about his upcoming move and their new relationship.


End file.
